There is no hire fee for events at The Private Kitchen, but there is a minimum spend amount. The minimum spend amount varies depending on the day of the week, the time of year and whether the event will be catered for by one of our chefs or dry hired with your own catering. The minimum spend amounts are detailed on the Hire page.

What menu options are available for The Private Kitchen?The Private Kitchen2019-01-30T11:24:45+00:00

Each of our catering restaurants offer a range of menu packages. Prices start at $50 per person and range to over $100 per person. To view the menu options, download our Events Pack from the Cuisines page. In addition to our catering packages, a custom menu can also be tailored to your specific requirements.

How can I find out more about each of your catering restaurants?The Private Kitchen2019-01-30T11:28:13+00:00

The Private Kitchen uses three neighbouring restaurants in Kensington Street to provide catering for The Private Kitchen. To find out more about the style of cuisine, we encourage you to visit their own restaurant websites:

Your personalised date specific quote will detail the GST inclusive breakdown of food, beverage and any additional items based on the event brief and the minimum spend for the night.

Aside from this we supply, outdoor and indoor lighting, candles, lounge furniture, cocktail tables, venue greenery, basic AV and table linen. Other decorations can be added by yourself or an external supplier.

Let us know what you’re thinking as we are happy to assist.

How do minimum spends work and are these additional to the quoted costs?The Private Kitchen2018-02-20T12:47:20+00:00

All private dining and events are based on a day hire (7:30AM-5:00PM) and a night hire (5:00PM-12:00AM) this includes bump in and out time.

Overall minimum spends apply for these time slots at different times throughout the year and differ throughout the week. These amounts are always included in the costs are at times negotiable.

Most groups meet the minimum spend easily (guest numbers x cost of food and beverage package), while others with smaller group sizes requesting a ‘premium’ date may pay a top up room hire figure to make up the difference.

We do not charge a room hire on standard hire, only a minimum spend that needs to be reached. Should you require additional bump in and out time, we will advise on the costs associated with this based on the additional timing and date of the event.

The Private Kitchen is a great venue for a brand pop ups, as an alternative meeting space, chef showcases or just an event where you would prefer your own catering. For these style of events, we charge a dry hire fee not a minimum spend.

For that fee, you have unlimited access to The Private Kitchen’s dining room and kitchen for your allocated hire time, all of our event furniture (whatever is not needed can be removed) access to a venue manager should you need anything and we can also supply all crockery, cutlery, and glassware for a fee of $5 per head. Table linen can also be ordered on your behalf and charged per item.

In some situations, they are. We have carefully selected our minimum spends to reflect the day of the week, time of the year and the menus that we offer, however, should these not be within the budget, please still reach out and our events team will see what the best possible solution may be.

If we have quoted you, we will not offer the date to anyone else. We realise that you might need time to arrange most other aspects before committing, however, if we do get a legitimate request from another party, we may contact you to ascertain your intentions. If you are still ‘not sure’ or we don’t hear back from you, we will reallocate the date as available.

When we send you your quote we will also send a booking and deposit confirmation form. We will need you to fill in that form and sign off on all of the terms and conditions. We will then use the details provided on that form to either charge your nominated credit card and provide you with a receipt or invoice you for bank transfer of the deposit.

By paying the deposit, you are locking in the date, venue and minimum spend only, all other aspects of the event (menu, beverages etc.) can be adjusted up until 7 days out.

We have a non-negotiable service charge of 5% on the final overall event cost (including drinks on consumption/extras on the night). This is a service and event management fee, and is aimed to reward quality staff employed for your event. This fee will be factored into all quotations.

I have some specific dietary requirements how do you cater to these?The Private Kitchen2018-02-20T15:08:43+00:00

Absolutely. For breakfast style events our chefs will curate a menu for you specifically based on your requirements, whether this is a plated breakfast, share style, canapés, buffet or a mix of all of the above.

We can also supply non-alcoholic juice and smoothie packages, or breakfast style cocktails.

The minimum spend for a breakfast event is the same as that of a lunch event on your chosen day.

Yes. we charge a fee of $2.50 per head which includes all cakes and desserts. For this fee we will assist in managing delivery, storage of the cake until the allocated time, set up on the cake and then cut and serve the cake to your guests as requested.

We offer BYO for wines only – not beer, non-alcoholic drinks or spirits. We charge $25.00 per open bottle which includes assisting in managing the delivery, storage and chilling of drinks, glassware and service staff.

Are under 18’s allowed and do you have kid’s menus?The Private Kitchen2018-02-20T13:05:54+00:00

We have a few options for children’s meals. If they are old enough to enjoy the canapés / sit down dinner menu, we charge them for the food package and a $20.00 non-alcoholic drinks package. For younger children we offer a kid’s meal for $28.00 each.

For really young children not requiring food or beverages, there is no cover charge.

As all of our catering comes from working restaurants in the precinct of which you have access to dine, we hope that a tasting of your proposed menu is unnecessary. Saying that, we understand that you may be uncertain about some elements.

We cannot provide a tasting for a canapé menu items, but can arrange a tasting of a seated menu where pricing will be arranged on a case by case basis.

We require the final numbers 7 days prior to the event, immediately after which the final amount is also due to be paid.

Once you have locked in these details and numbers, we cannot reduce or change aspects of the planning or costs. However, if you do have any last minute changes or additional guests, please inform us and we will do our best to cater for these.

We can adjust elements of the menus to better suit your requirements, however, the menus have been carefully written and priced by our chefs to work for larger event groups and complement the service and night as a whole.

For any major changes we suggest a sit down meeting with our chefs and event manager to discuss your needs/requirements for the event. Any changes may incur additional costs.

Spirits and cocktails are not available as part of the drinks packages, however, we do have a few options to incorporate spirits into the evening for the whole party or just a select few on a consumption basis. As we have a pop up bar, we will need to be aware of which spirits/cocktails will be required so we can stock accordingly.

As The Private Kitchen has a “pop-up” bar, we cannot facilitate a cash bar. We can facilitate an on consumption bar, whereby you only pay for what is consumed at the completion of the event via one payment method.

Our beverage packages have been carefully selected & priced and are different for each catering option. They all include ‘unlimited’ service of sparkling and still water, juices, soft drinks, coffee and tea, sparkling wine, white wine, red wine, rose (if requested) and beer for 4 hours.

There are very limited changes that can be made to these packages and may be subject to additional charge. You can add on additional consumption spirt/cocktail service to compliment this.

The beverage options come from the restaurant that you choose to cater your event. We will then send you the full list of beverages available and you have until 7 days prior to the event to choose which beverages you would like to include.

For all wines, sparkling water and beer you will be charged per bottle opened. For all soft drinks, juices, coffee, tea spirits and cocktails you will be charged per item.

You will need to pre-pay the total amount of beverages needed to reach the minimum spend, anything in addition to this, plus a 5% service fee will need to be paid at the completion of the event.

We have basic AV available for you as part of your hire. This includes a 55 inch plasma TV with HDMI output and a basic microphone and speaker system. This is only sufficient for quick presentations/speeches and we would recommend a more professional set-up with our preferred AV supplier (AV360) for anything more extensive.

We are located in a residential area and do have to abide by noise restrictions. We are unable to have any music outside beyond background music on the terrace. Party style music and dancing in the outside area is not allowed.

Can we bring our own music? If so, how loud can it be?The Private Kitchen2018-02-20T15:06:33+00:00

We have a speaker system that can be connected into via AUX or Bluetooth, with a “set and forget” style playlist being allocated by you. This music can be played loud enough to create a dance floor or background ambience, but cannot be so loud that it will travel to external buildings. The Event Manager on the night will restrict the music as necessary.

What time can I have decorations/flowers/cake/AV dropped off and picked up?The Private Kitchen2018-02-20T15:06:24+00:00

Ideally, all goods relating to the event will be dropped-off during your allocated event bump-in time. We understand that this is not always possible and will try make the venue available for bump-in the morning of/day prior, if possible.

Should you not be able to take everything with you at the end of the night, bump-out can take place strictly the following morning before midday.
However, we do not take responsibility for any goods delivered to the venue outside of you allocated bump-in and out times.

There will be one venue manager who will be your main point of contact on the evening. We will also supply more than enough staff to serve all food and beverage requirements for the night. Should you request additional staff for non-standard service, you will be billed per staff member per hour.

How does the food delivery and order of service work with speeches and presentations?The Private Kitchen2018-02-20T15:05:09+00:00

Our event manager will work with you and our kitchen teams to confirm a run sheet that will work best for the event. This will be confirmed 7 days out.

It is vital for the smooth running of the event that we have a full understanding of any longer formalities that you have planned. Food and beverage service needs to be complementary to this but can easily falter if we are not involved in the details or things are adjusted on the day.
For any short/informal speeches, please liaise with the manager on the night.

We provide a basic table setting, menus, candles, ambient lighting and greenery around the venue. These come complimentary as part of the hire and can be adjusted to suit any additional styling or decorations you have arranged.